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A 91 GSX DD survivor build

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GSXftw

10+ Year Contributor
381
78
Dec 16, 2009
Medford, Oregon
So Ive had this car for the last 9 years finally decided to put it out to the world. I AM VERY PROUD of how good my DSM has been to me. This car has impressed the hell out of everyone including me, and for everyone who says DSMs break all the time, are unreliable, or need totally redone to run decent, THEY SHOULD MEET MY CAR. Id like to start by saying I couldnt do any of this without my dad, and although Ive done most of the mods myself, my dad has always been there to point me in the right direction and of course generously lend his shop for all those late nights.
So I bought it in Stockton, CA, Was mostly stock, unmolested and taken pretty good care of. All work was done by dealerships or reputable shops and had reciepts, the mods I can see are KYB GR2 struts, an aftermarket front sway bar on the A arms, and restrictor taken out of the BCS.
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It had 167k, I paid a bit too much for it at $2700, but I was young and it had to be mine, and it was on payments which helped.
So I trailered it home, which was $200 alone, and the problem sorting started LOL. First it was apparent the alternator was bad, which obviously the voltage regulator went bad cause there were 8 (Yes EIGHT) blown out bulbs, an array of relays, stock stereo unit was fried, ect. it needed a battery, I changed the fuel filter, the tires were dangerously cracked/aged, So I found some 300zx rims with good tires. Also a retard deer T-boned me 3 months owning it as you can see, his head hit the fender, then he spun around and his ass put the dent in the door. (If you havent heard the Louis CK bit about the retard deer you must listen)
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So after this I could drive it without white knuckles, but only under light throttle. As soon as it went into boost it would buck like hell. After much troubleshooting the culprit was the MAF, only way I could feel sweet sweet boost was in limp in mode and getting 10 MPG. So I made an order for my first upgrades, a GM MAFT, 3.5" MAF, K&N, Boost gauge/NB Airfuel gauge. This way it was DD'able and mods were voluntary :)
It had a battery draw and would need jumped if it sat more than 2 days. After searching I realized it was the ECU (which we'll get to later.) It stayed powered on with key off so I just hooked up a kill switch. Next came a water pump/timing/balance shaft belts, a catless 3" turboback exhaust, with a dynomax muffler, which took boost from 10-12, then got a MBC and put it to "the fence" at 15-16 psi. I upgraded to 1Gb brakes, new front half shafts, and since the car was absolutely gutless unless the oil thinned out I upgraded to 3g lifters. I ran it this way for YEARS
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI1czcErhBw[/ame]

and just replaced what broke-radiator, starter, AC recharge. Then my ECU started acting up- the O2 readings (which I could moniter from the NB fuel gauge) was going haywire/cutting out, it quit streaming if Id hook it up to a scanner, and finally when I'd key on the CEL quit coming on. I was smart enough to know what was going on here, and after seeing how expensive ECUs were I went the band aid fix route and ordered the capacitors and carefully soldered them in. This bought me another year before the ECU went bad. That is TO THIS DAY THE ONLY TIME THE CAR HAS LEFT ME STRANDED. After seeing I didnt have an EPROM and that the board was eaten I ordered a brand new socketed EPROM ecu from motoguys garage.
I ran the car at the track and Best it did was a 14.20@95 with a 1.9 60 ft
Clutch liked to slip so did the ebay special F1 racing stage 2 kevlar on the stock FW (This clutch was awesome for this power level BTW gave me 3.5 years of launching) and after missing a shift and going from 3-2 instead of a 3-4, and hitting 8500 RPM:barf: I got the solid shift bushings and short shifter.
I picked up a 94 GS no engine for $150. This thing was very clean and gave me a lot of goodies :)
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I got the seats, steering wheel, master/slave cylinder, shorter shift knob, and all necessary body parts for a 1Gb conversion. It was even the same color. After I was done stripping it went to the crusher and gave me $150, FREE PARTS are cool!!!
So at this point I was a little confused... I had a Supra I was building, a 12 sec Camaro, an Accord to DD, the Eclipse seemed like the odd man out, and knowing the next steps for power were fuel, turbo, tuning, they seemed intimidating and I didnt wanna go there, so I put the DSM up for sale for $3000 with 200k on the clock since it was just sitting. I gave a couple test drives, and after people asking "Whats that boost gauge do?" I realized nobody in this town was gonna appreciate this car or mods thus far like I would... so I sold the Honda instead which is always easy, people love their Hondas, DSMs are a special taste :hellyeah:
So after a couple grand in Honda cash, and a couple more grand in tax $, I gave the car some much needed attention (you made it to the fun part thanks for hangin in there) it has been my DD since and every mod has been a 'weekend mod'
since I was smart enough to look on tuners at this point I just started goin down the upgrade path... I did all the free mods, which included rebuilding the TB and fixing any other boost leaks. I replaced the windshield (Holy shit NEVER EVER EVER do this job yourself, pay the xtra $30 and have it done)
Front/rear strut bars, new tires, AEM wideband, new battery
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Having a WB at this point I was surprised to see the AFR was dead on in the high 10s with the MAFT zero'd out like I had been running for years. So then came a 2g exhaust mani which I ported to 7cm
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Then I got tired of looking at all those 94 Eclipse panels and finally decided to tackle the 1Gb conversion. For all the people afraid of this just know I did this in one late ass night. Drove in 5pm when the shop closes for business with pop up headlights, rolled out 4am all 1Gb'd out! (BTW I did the rear bumper the previous night as you can see)
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The headlights were brighter, but still not to my liking.... in comes the HID kits! I bought 2 kits for lows and highs, and wired it so that highs/lows are both on at high beams. Theyre GRRRRREAT!
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Also ordered ECMlink V3 LITE and finally made use of the socketed ECU I had been running for years, I used this in conjunction with the MAFT and the GM maf still
Took off the O2 housing and turbo to port them
I realized the stock 14b was finished
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No wonder it spools like shit!! LOL I actually had to put this busted thing back on to make it home for the night, but I ordered a big16g off ebay that night. Yes ebay, I just needed something to get me by for a while. Also ordered a CXracing FMIC and piping kit
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Dont run these intercoolers!!! ....but more about that later
So I knew ahead of time these turbos were known to creep, so I ported it before it went on
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I also ditched the WGA and welded up a Garrett actuator to give more throw and open the flapper all the way. These mods and the fact it came with the bigger 34mm flapper, it still would creep to 15psi. Perfect! LOL so running this turbo as low as it could go, was still as high as I could go with the stock fuel system and was hitting mid 90% IDC.
The car sat too high
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So It saw the torch
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I didnt like how cramped everything was in the engine bay, so I deleted ABS, deleted the charcoal canister and did the battery tuck, Then with the newfound room I switched to blow thru on the MAF and an HKS BOV
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I didnt like how unstable the hz readings were with all the turbulent air, and how your AFR would be different daytime or nightime with temps, so I switched to SD
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It was at this point I hit the track the first time since all the more serious mods started
[ame=[MEDIA=youtube]EOZy27p5qRo[/MEDIA] vs. 350 Chevy Luv - YouTube[/ame]

13.7@99
Granted a lot of mods for a small improvement, this was with launch control, NLTS, ect, but I was thinking long term and foundation building :hellyeah:
So in went a rewired 190lph fuel pump, 1050 FIC injectors, ARP headstuds (did them one by one and left the head/gasket mated) I also didnt like the shifting at 6500, so BC 264/272s went in. I think I did all these before the next weekend for the next drag races LOL. I turned up the boost to 22psi~ and tuned it all out, and the car felt pretty strong now pulling to 7500rpm.
This is a video click it
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So with boost and revving I went in expecting dipping into a 12, and was disappointed with a 13.26@103! I was pretty let down... After talking to people on the ECM forums I realized it was my intercooler. My IATs were starting around 80 but hitting 150-160 at the end of the pass. I hacked my bumper to fully expose it, I was spraying it with water before every pass to keep it cool, didnt matter. It wasnt heatsoaking it just wasnt thermally exchanging the air it was blowing straight thru. It was at that point I realized a core was not a core. My timing had to be pretty conservative with how hot these charge temps were, and the best I could muster on straight 92 pump was a 13.01@104. Finally at the end of 2012 I said screw it and put a 50/50 race gas mix in, added 4* of timing all around, and clicked off a 12.86@107. My goal that year was to click off a 12 and be faster than the 12.95 my gas hoggin ground shakin Camaro does, and I did it. I loved how much that timing helped the car, it even sounded meaner going down the track, however that one time running race gas toasted my stock O2 so I had to switch to O2 sim, and it was so depressing when it ran out and you had to detune your car....Heres a couple vids from the 2012 season


So fast forward to 2013, I did the VRSF fmic
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This thing is awesome. Welcome to ambient charge temps all day any day. I felt a little more power on the butt dyno just from this mod, so I added a degree of timing, it took it, added another, no knock, then another LOL. I added 3* of timing just from a better FMIC. Yeah buddy!
After about 5k I decided to quit the ebay turbo russian roulette and opted for a b20g with internals I could trust
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It was then I took my car to the snow and got very out performed by a WRX with LSD rear. I thought "gosh I need to get rid of this 3 bolt"
So I picked up a 92 AWD laser.
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and what do you know it had a 4 bolt LSD rear :)
So I did the ol switcheroo and got me a 4 bolt rear
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The boost was falling off at higher RPMs... I had done the easy mod and put some helper springs on the outside of the WGA and made it act like a 17psi actuator, but the big 34mm flapper was just staying blown open. I got a punishment racing O2 housing with the screamer pipe made to dump your internal WG, I cut it and welded a knock off 46mm EWG on, and welded the stock WG flapper open
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The clutch was on its last leg after 3.5 years of torture, I was still running balance shafts with about 40k on the balance/timing belts, I was still on the stock intake and had horrible off boost power which I realized was part due to my cams being a half a tooth off... So I started plotting for a big upgrade week...
 
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I pulled the engine
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Changed knock sensors
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Did a cyclone intake
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Upgraded to V3 FULL
got all the pieces for a water/meth kit
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XTD stage 4 with chromolly FW, CC forged fork/pivot ball, OEM tob, SS clutch line
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Pulled balance shafts, did a timing belt, and AEM adjustable cam gears, mounted the Coils/igniter on the firewall
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Realized cyclones dont work with AC the hard way and cracked the runners
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Tried again
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(sure am glad I pulled the engine to change intakes just to have to do the swap with the engine in LOL that shit sucked)
and that pretty much gets us up to date on mods
I have been tuning with the water/meth injection, I worked up to the same timing tables I ran with the race gas mix last year, and opening day at the track did pretty much same time 12.92@107 at 22 psi(spun a little, fresh track) Might be a little ambitious but Im hoping to reach the 11s this year, but if you were paying attention to mods, I am still on the stock longblock/trans, run 12s with bolt ons on pump gas with 210k on the clock, still daily drive and get 21mpg town, so we'll see how this year turns out but either way this thing has proven tough as nails :)
 
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nice build... Also wondering how the AC cracked the runners.
 
How did the a/c crack the runners? WTF I've never had that issue on any of my Cyclones.

So engine was out, AC compressor was unbolted and left in the car lines hooked up. The Cyclone was put on the engine, lowered in, and the AC compressor never bolted up flush. It acted like it was binding in the mount and wouldnt go the last inch and suck up. I said screw it and left the AC belt off for a couple days, then I realized the Cyclone was leaking at the mating gaskets (the guy I bought it from had seperated it) So I took the intake off, engine installed, and did gaskets to seal it all up. With the intake off I said, "Hey I can get to this AC compressor way easier" So I tightened it all the way up, and figured the engine vibration unbound it. Then when I went to put the intake back on, it seemed to go on okay but when I boost leak tested I had a giant boost leak on the bottom of the runners and they werent flush with the head. I thought it was just binding on the stud theads so I fought it for hours, eventually tried drawing it in with the bolts, and you see what happened. Its pretty tough to see if youre not looking for it but the #1 runner hits the top of the AC compressor and they wont work together in stock form. Never read anything about it with all my Cyclone research before I bought/installed but once this happened I looked around and it happens, also to 2Ga guys
 
Update time- I ran at the track, turned up the boost a couple and maxxed out what I can do on this 13 psi WG spring, which is 23~ also turned up the timing, did some 12.79s @110 Im a little worried about this stock trans right now so 4750 launch is all I was doing which was mid 1.8 60 foots. With the trap speed thats more of a 12.5 pass on a GOOD launch.
So on a new chapter of this car I started on bodywork on this thing. Its well overdue, this thing should look half as good as it runs and not be scoffed at. It looked pretty much perfect when I first got it but with time the clearcoat started coming off, and the 1Gb panels I swapped on had been resprayed in a horribly cheap single stage, so has no gloss at all it looks primer! Also along the way I'll be looking into some weight savings, cause this thing weighs close to my Camaro, and more than my buddies 5.0 stang, which just aint right.
So first things first Im shaving some of the options/devices I wont be using- The rear wiper, antenae, rear washer wiper.
First was fiberglass
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Filler
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Then primer surfacer
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Well thats what I got accomplished today. Pretty happy with the progress, more to come tomorrow
 
So original plan was to primer sealer every piece as its prepped out, until finally ready for paint. but after consideration I remembered theres a 48 hour window, and if you dont paint within that time you have to sand the sealer back down, so really Id be making more work for myself, so just gonna sand and prep everything, do primer surfacer in spots needed, and wait for sealer at the same time as paint. Big thing is just have to be conciensious of moisture (god its tough when you have to drive the car youre painting) So today all I did was some serious sanding.
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1 Question tho. Why the 1gb convesrion?

Where do you want me to start? LOL
1. Weight
2. Engine bay room
3. Aerodynamics
4. Headlight bulb options- halogens in the pop ups still totally sucked, and retrofit HIDs are expensive
5. It was free
6. I just think this looks awesome
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I have a 1gb,But I would love a 1ga,those sexy things.But its still your car I was just asking.

I have a great starter package if you wanna convert. Hood, Fenders, parking lights, rocker panels, rear bumper, dash bezel, pretty much only thing Ive sold is door trim and headlight buckets. and Im still using the 1Ga front bumper cause donor cars was no good
 
love the 1gb conversion, I'm doing the same on mine

Its really not as big of a deal as everyone makes it out to be... Once you have the 1Gb headlights and hold them up you know exactly what you need to do.
Well my EWG is an eBay knock off for the awesome price of $65, at WG pressure it was 13 psi, and most I could do with a controller was 22, so I bought a small blue spring, and popped that puppy in, now its 23 psi WG pressure. :rocks: I tuned it to 26
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqyl_ymxbEk]New tune 26 psi 20g DSM 91 GSX - YouTube[/ame]
but it didnt give me the giant power boost I was expecting... I was hoping this was gonna blast me to knocking on the 11s... and instead did a 12.61@110... I still trapped the same speed! WTF! I didnt drop timing no knock ect. The dipstick did pop out tho so Im thinking the ring sealing isnt the greatest, when I leaked it down it was around 20%... but stay tuned, I picked up a 94 trans, and gonna do an OEM rebuild on that, probably with a welded center diff, and will probably do an OEM rebuild of the engine as well while its out. At this point Ill need another DD.
 
Well since this turbo was maxed out I decided to do a couple things... since the center diff/output shaft was ready to go any second with a lot of slack and noise, I welded up the diff, dropped the driveline and converted to FWD. This worked out great cause I was able to fill the driveline carrier bearings and let them set, and still drive the car, also theres local 2wd dynos but no awd that aren't a few hours drive. So I hit the dyno for the first time as Ive been driving daily. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10201063805338247" width="1280" height="720" frameborder="0"></iframe>
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btw Id just like to say FWD with even this not so ridiculous HP is a freaking joke! The first 2 gears are useless, 3rd is scary as shit wanders around left and right and bites for traction, even a pull in 4th on the freeway felt ready to spin any second. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjK85do-d5c]Fwd sucks LOL - YouTube[/ame]
So at this point gonna freshen up the RWD components, keep doin bodywork, and probably for the first time freshen up the engine, I know Im leaving a lot of power on the table with my compression #s. Thanks for readin yall
 
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Well the car has an official sponsor of Turbo Lab of America, and a T3 upgrade is in the works. Also of course has the unofficial sponsor of my dads shop, JRs Wrenchworks. Had a pretty insane night at the drags. They tried something new called mignight mayhem, starts at 10pm and heads up running till 2am! (super dense air) and burnout contest, only $10 to run, yeah I was down! I pulled in around 7, a little early so I could watch some friends run the early races, had a couple beers and hung out, then noticed my car had a BIG trace of oil puking out the right front tire area. I had the center diff out around 3 weeks ago, and thought theres no way it could've been leaking this whole time...after some investigating I saw the sidecover had cracked!! YIKES! It was right at the input shaft area so knew exactly what it was, the 34mm nut came loose. Well it was getting dark fast, I was a little buzzed, I finally said screw it and jacked the car up on the pit pad, cell phone lights, battery impact gun, ride to the shop for thread file, FIPG, another 34mm nut, 90w, it was a crazy thrash session but I had it together and pulled into the lanes about 10:10. It was super crowded and had an insane turnout, I guess the change of venue brought out new faces. I was surrounded by 15-17 second Hondas/ricers, it was actually pretty hilarious. All the new faces had never seen a DSM apparently and nobody gave it a second look. I pulled up with a GSR swapped civic, his buddies said to my buddies, "I bet he gives that eclipse a run for his money!" My buddy said, "No it wont LOL" Well I did the honorable thing and counted to 3 after he chirped away, and gave him a good head start, and caught him about the 3-4 shift LOL. Vtec this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzzc6QCOYzg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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But still goin on the bodywork, used a unispotter on the door and got it all straightened/primered.
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Still not sure what Im doin on paint yet, I don't wanna jamb/engine compartment prep, so Ill probably do the stock color with a little pearl for that little something extra. Well thanks for reading, stay tuned!!
 
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Scored some MUCH MUCH sought after parts. Ive always wanted to convert my car to a 1Gb Talon, but the parts were always kinda tough to find. Well after a 7 hour drive (one way) and straight back I got everything I wanted. The front was very very straightforward
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When I do the rear Im also planning on shedding some weight out of the crash beam. Stay tuned!
 
IF you're looking for a 1gb talon spoiler let me know. I have one in my garage :)
 
IF you're looking for a 1gb talon spoiler let me know. I have one in my garage :)

Thanks I think Im okay with the crossbreed it is now :)

So some mods...
Laptop mount
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T3 Cast mani
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A 7 bolt head is on its way along with some others :) Stay tuned its gonna get good trust me.

Found this old pic... My buddy saw me getting pulled over so he snapped a pic LOL
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Thanks ya'll happy motoring
 
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